Articles

Editorial

Authors: Josep M. Duart

New Informal Ways of Learning: Or Are We Formalising the Informal?

Informal learning is currently seen by some authors as a shift in current educational systems. Based on a trend instigated by connectivism, whereby informal networks are created between people who help each ot...

Authors: Albert Sangrà and Steve Wheeler

Editorial

Authors: Josep M. Duart

A Hyperlink-based Model for the Management of Teaching Documents in a University Centre

Documents containing teaching information (course guides, curricula, rules, etc.) constitute an essential resource in higher education, particularly for students. Their importance has been stressed over the la...

Authors: Francisco A. Ocaña and Ana del Moral García

Innovation and Good Practices in University Government and Management

This brief introductory article takes a look at the main topics of this Dossier (innovation, good practices, government and management) in order to put them in context, to guide their scope and to open them up...

Authors: Francisco Rubio

Editorial

Authors: Josep M. Duart

Student projects empowering mobile learning in higher education

Educational institutions are facing the challenge of providing students with tools for mobile learning (m-learning). However, the evolution of technology makes the development and continuous improvement of the...

Authors: Àngels Rius, David Masip and Robert Clarisó

Mobile learning in the field of Architecture and Building Construction. A case study analysis

This educational research focuses on the use of mobile learning (m-learning) in the field of Architecture and Building Construction. It was conducted at various levels of university teaching (bachelor’s and ma...

Authors: Ernest Redondo Domínguez, David Fonseca Escudero, Albert Sánchez Riera and Isidro Navarro Delgado

Creating and using educational resources to improve practical teaching in the Human Physiology subject on the bachelor’s degree course in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences. Assessment of results

The need to advance towards a methodology that strengthens self-directed learning and competency development among students has become a key focus of university teaching in recent years. This focus has given r...

Authors: Gemma Olmos, M. Piedad Ruiz-Torres, Laura Calleros, María Alicia Cortés, Sergio de Frutos, Rafael Ospina and Manuel Rodríguez-Puyol

Educational innovation through ICTs in the university setting. What do students think of these practices?

The aim of this article is to report on an experience undertaken by a group of students during the implementation of a programme targeting innovative students at the University of Valencia (UV), Spain. The cur...

Authors: Fernando Gómez Gonzalvo

Learning networks to enhance reflectivity: key elements for the design of a reflective network

The benefits of reflective practice for professionals who deal with complex settings have been widely reported. Similarly, different types of learning networks (LNs) are emerging as a promising alternative to ...

Authors: David Garcia Cardenas

Academic writing supported by digital templates in teacher training

This article describes the experience of creating and piloting a digital writing template in blended learning mode in order to optimise essay-writing strategies and to formalise hypertext use in academic liter...

Authors: Beatriz Figueroa Sandoval, Mariana Aillon Neumann and Andrés Fuentealba Urra

Open educational practices and technology appropriation: the case of the Regional Open Latin American Community for Social and Educational Research (CLARISE)

A major challenge for the knowledge society is to narrow the education gap, hence the need for strategies that foster innovation and improvement in education. Thus, with the support of technology and the Inter...

Authors: María del Carmen Betancourt Franco, Rosario Celaya Ramírez and María Soledad Ramírez Montoya

Twitter’s contribution to improving strategic communication in Latin American universities

An analysis was performed to identify the key points for achieving effective strategic communication in universities via Twitter. An evaluation and comparison was made of how 263 universities used Twitter by l...

Authors: Ph. Alba Patricia Guzmán Duque and Ph. María Esther del Moral Pérez

Latin American university students’ perceptions of social networks and group work

In recent years, the Internet and Web 2.0 tools have played a fairly pivotal role in university education. Social software tools have stood out in particular, with social networks attracting the most attention...

Authors: Julio Cabero Almenara and Verónica Marín Díaz

Cooperation for institutional strengthening: shared knowledge in the quest for improved teaching

This article presents an evaluation of the institutional cooperation project entitled “Universidad y sociedad del conocimiento. Fortalecimiento institutional en áreas dedicadas a la enseñanza universitaria con nu...

Authors: Adriana Gewerc Barujel and Almudena Alonso Ferreiro

Pedagogical models, collaborative work and interaction on online undergraduate programmes in Colombia: still some way to go

This article presents the results of a study whose aim was to explore the experiences and perceptions that students, lecturers/tutors and coordinators had of the pedagogical models underpinning online undergra...

Authors: Clelia Pineda Báez, Cristina Hennig and Yasbley Segovia

Challenges and perspectives for the open education movement in the distance education environment: a diagnostic study in a SINED project

The aim of this article is to present an analysis of challenges and perspectives through a project supported by the Mexican National System of Distance Education (SINED) and based on a successful case called t...

Authors: María Soledad Ramírez Montoya

Education and Technology in Mexico and Latin America: Outlook and Challenges. Introduction

With an increasing number of young people reaching university entrance age, the demographic reality of Latin American countries is changing the face of their traditional higher education spaces. The impact is dri...

Authors: Margarita Ontiveros y Sánchez de la Barquera and José Raúl Canay Pazos

Aspects and indicators for assessing the quality of learning objects created by the University of Information Sciences, Havana

The study presented in this article examines various conceptual aspects for assessing the quality of learning objects (LOs). The main aim is to design an assessment guide enabling the level of quality attained...

Authors: Yuniet del Carmen Toll Palma and Yohandri Ril Gil

Identifying the stage of growth in the organisational learning capacity of universities

In order to improve university government and management, in this article we propose a tool for identifying the stage of growth in the organisational learning capacity of a university. It consists of a questio...

Authors: Mireia Tintoré Espuny and Albert Arbós Bertran

Teamwork and leadership in a virtual learning environment

The aim of this article is to identify the relationships and synergies between two basic management skills — teamwork and leadership — in the virtual learning environment of a master’s degree programme subject...

Authors: Ana R. Pacios and Gema Bueno de la Fuente

Social sciences teaching and information processing. An experience using WebQuests in primary education teacher training

The main aim of this study is to show the utility of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in primary education teacher training. A series of experiences using these resources was produced and then...

Authors: Pedro Miralles Martínez, Cosme Jesús Gómez Carrasco and Laura Arias Ferrer

Learning and navigating: an exploratory study of the relationships between learning styles and navigational practices in Moodle

This study identifies the relationships between the learning styles and certain characteristics of the navigational practices of a group of students taking an online postgraduate course in Moodle.¹ These two aspe...

Authors: Gilles Lavigne, Karla María Díaz López, Lewis McAnally Salas and Javier Organista Sandoval

The school environment project and its connection with e-learning for pre-school children in Escuela Normal Superior La Hacienda de Barranquilla, Colombia

The aim of this research project is to use Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as an appropriate method for strengthening the learning processes of pre-school children. The experience was carried...

Authors: Ángel Leonardo Hernández Rojo and María Piedad Acuña Agudelo

Design of a specific quality assessment model for distance education

Improving the quality of education systems is one of the major challenges of the 21st century. In many cases, this can be put down to the specific demands of accreditation regulations placed on higher educatio...

Authors: Carlos G. Giorgetti, Lucila Romero and Marcela Vera

Virtual dialogues and exchanges. The social and cognitive dimensions of interactions among students

This article focuses on the topic of interactions among peers in virtual environments. The analytical approach considers both the cognitive dimension and the social dimension (addressed more recently in the li...

Authors: Analía Claudia Chiecher and Danilo Silvio Donolo

Corporate universities: an emerging actor in higher education in Spain?

Corporate universities are a growing phenomenon in present-day Spanish society. Corporations increasingly depend on knowledge and, as an alternative to the gaps identified in traditional education, they are cr...

Authors: Antonio J. Baladrón Pazos and Beatriz Correyero Ruiz

ICTs and collaborative learning: a case study of a class blog for improving the writing skills of pre-university students

In a previous study published in RUSC. Universities and Knowledge Society Journal, we observed that blogs in Spanish aimed at textual comprehension and production still lacked the instruments and materials to ...

Authors: Guadalupe Álvarez and Lorena Bassa

Professionalisation of Teaching in Universities: Implications from a Training Perspective

While the professionalisation of teaching is not a new topic of pedagogical study, its consideration in today’s training context is relevant from a three-fold perspective: 1) Integrating formal, non-formal and...

Authors: José Tejada Fernández

New Pathways to Learning: Leveraging the Use of OERs to Support Non-formal Education

The growth of non-formal education is expanding teaching and learning pathways for the delivery of global education. This growth, in concert with the expanded use of Open Educational Resources (OERs), is creat...

Authors: Don Olcott Jr

Beyond the Ivory Tower: A Model for Nurturing Informal Learning and Development Communities through Open Educational Practices

Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Educational Practices (OEP) are making an evergrowing impact on the field of adult learning, offering free high-quality education to increasing numbers of people. Howe...

Authors: Tony Coughlan and Leigh-Anne Perryman

Supporting Continuous Professional Learning in the Academic Staff through Expertise Sharing

This article reports a small-scale experiment of a strategy designed to support the sharing of academic expertise at a Distance Learning University. Two small and separate groups of academic staff members (one...

Authors: Josianne Basque

Dimensions of Perceived Service Quality in Higher Education Virtual Learning Environments

Virtual learning environments (VLEs) make intensive use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to underpin the delivery of basic higher education institution functions (teaching, administrative p...

Authors: María Jesús Martínez-Argüelles, Miguel Blanco Callejo and José M. Castán Farrero

Mediated Action: A Unit of Analysis for Reviewing Hypertextual Reading and Writing Practices in Teacher Training

This exploratory qualitative study identifies and tests a unit of analysis in order to describe and interpret, in a holistic manner, the hypertextual academic reading and writing practices that take place on a...

Authors: Beatriz Figueroa Sandoval, Mariana Aillon Neumann and Omar Salazar Provoste

Innovation in Ibero-American Universities

Innovation in universities is not a new object of study. Indeed, such innovation used to be considered an individual, sporadic and isolated phenomenon. This article presents it as a fundamental process for the...

Authors: Miguel Casas Armengol and Lily Stojanovic

Contributions to e-Learning from a Best Practices Study at Andalusian Universities

The presence and development of ICTs in higher education is ever greater, and so are the efforts that universities everywhere have been making to incorporate them into areas such as management, research and te...

Authors: Julio Cabero Almenara, M.a del Carmen Llorente Cejudo and Juan Antonio Morales Lozano

Challenges and Opportunities of 2.0 Tools for the Interdisciplinary Study of Nutrition: The Case of the Mediterranean Diet Wiki

This article analyses the possibility of integrating new learning practices into health-related postgraduate programmes to enable students to acquire specific competencies in their field of study while improvi...

Authors: Alicia Aguilar Martínez, F. Xavier Medina, Joan Antoni Pons Albalat and Francesc Saigí Rubió

University e-Portfolios as a New Higher Education Teaching Method. The Development of a Multimedia Educational Material (MEM)

The new European university context requires a methodological and evaluative shift towards active didactic, socio-constructive and investigative perspectives that are student-centred. This study describes the ...

Authors: José Ignacio Aguaded Gómez, Eloy López Meneses and Alicia Jaén Martínez

Digital Scholarship and the Tenure Process as an Indicator of Change in Universities

In this paper, the author aims to demonstrate that a practical barometer of how universities are dealing with the changes wrought by a digital, networked world can be found in the manner in which their reward ...

Authors: Martin Weller

Opportunities for Managing Human Capital in University Spin-offs. A Dynamic Analysis

Creating university spin-offs (USOs) should be one of the cornerstones of a country’s business development. Yet a number of studies have identified two factors that limit their growth: access to funding diffic...

Authors: David Rodeiro Pazos, Sara Fernñndez and Nuria Calvo

Pluralist University Government. An Analysis Proposal Based on Stakeholder Theory

The main aim of this article is to reflect on the possibilities of developing pluralist university government in the current political and social context, which requires university institutions to be much more...

Authors: Ricardo Gaete Quezada

Information Technology Incident Management: A Case Study of the University of Oviedo and the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education

Since their introduction into higher education institutions, information technology (IT) resources have become an indispensable, dynamic and controversial component of teaching- and research-related activities...

Authors: Javier Fombona Cadavieco, Celestino Rodríguez Pérez and Carolina Barriada Fernández

Higher Education Governance Reform in Practice. Matching Institutional Implementation Practices and Policies

Governance is one of the most important higher education policy reform areas in the European Commission. The experience of many years in this field shows that in Europe the diversity of both higher education s...

Authors: Endika Bengoetxea Castro

A Proposal for Formative Assessment with Automatic Feedback on an Online Mathematics Subject

This article presents a new teaching methodology implemented on a basic mathematics course for Engineering students at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC). The experience of its implementation in the 2010/1...

Authors: Teresa Sancho-Vinuesa and Núria Escudero Viladoms

An Answering System for Questions Asked by Students in an e-Learning Context

In this article, we present a system that helps tutors to answer questions asked by their students at an online university: the Open University of Catalonia (UOC). Communication between UOC students and their ...

Authors: Joaquim Moré, Salvador Climent and Marta Coll-Florit

The Impact of ICTs on Lecturer and Student Interaction in University Education Processes

Interaction is a basic element in any educational process, and it is something that needs to be reconsidered in the light of technology. In order to examine the methodological changes that ICTs bring to teachi...

Authors: Òscar Flores Alarcia and Isabel de Arco Bravo

Use of Bibliography and Academic Plagiarism among University Students

Given the proliferation of student plagiarism from the Internet, the intention of this study is to understand academic plagiarism among university students and how they cite and reference the information they ...

Authors: Txema Egaña

New Technologies in the University Context: The Use of Blogs for Developing Students’ Reading and Writing Skills

Many studies have emphasised the difficulties that students have when it comes to dealing with typical reading and writing tasks in higher education. With advances in information and communication technologies...

Authors: Guadalupe Álvarez

A Knowledge-Skill-Competencies e-Learning Model in Mathematics

This paper concerns modelling competence in mathematics in an e-learning environment. Competence is something complex, which goes beyond the cognitive level, and involves meta-cognitive and non-cognitive facto...

Authors: Giovannina Albano